Now as we have reported in a previous ARMOURCARD blog post, there are now FREE apps that allow you to skim card data with your Near Field Enabled (NFC) smartphones. These include the Samsung Galaxy 3 or Galaxy 4, latest Windows phones and rumors are that the next generation of iPhone will also be NFC enabled. What that means to you and I is everyone with a smartphone potentially will be able to use that phone to electronically pickpocket your data without you even knowing it.

We did our own bench testing

At ARMOURCARD we don’t claim to be experts in hacking or skimming.? However we were able to download a range of apps that were capable of extracting card data and applied them to testing. We found that the apps were able to extract different data from a range of cards some even including the cardholders name . The point being that if a couple of novices could easily obtain the equipment and means to do this, what would a seasoned professional be capable of accomplishing? We were not comfortable with the ease at which our personal data could be compromised. ARMOURCARD provides the first electronic solution to this vulnerability.

What do the card issuers say:

In the article a spokes person for Visa, Judy Shaw, said that it was:

“technically possible to lift some details from its cards using NFC scanning technology”

In the article it was said that “the level of security was extremely high and contact-less payments were as safe as traditional cards”. Traditional cards do not have a history of being secure. The size of the fraud industry which has emerged from the lack of card security is living testament to this. Why else would financial institutions limit? transactions to under $100 if there was no cause for concern?? Does that sound secure to you?

If you are wanting to secure your identity today, then get ‘active RFID & NFC protection from ARMOURCARD.